1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a closure cap for medicine containers. More particularly the present invention relates to a closure cap having a time indicator for use with medicine containers to assure timely taking of the medications contained therein.
2. Prior Art
Pills, capsules, liquids and other medicines have long been packaged in bottles or other containers capped with a variety of closure devices. Medicine bottle caps are designed to serve multiple purposes including preventing moisture and foreign materials from entering the bottle and contaminating the medicine in the bottle. More recently, medicine caps have been designed to prevent children from gaining access to the medication.
Medicine often must be taken at particular intervals. Failure to take medicine as prescribed or directed can delay the relief afforded by the medicine and can lead to even more serious problems. For example, if the full course of certain antibiotic prescriptions are not complied with, the infection to which the antibiotic is targeted may not be curbed and the patient may develop responses to the antibiotic that can prevent full efficacy of that antibiotic in that particular patient in the future. Failure to take medicine as prescribed can also result in overdose.
The problems associated with maintaining a prescribed schedule for taking medicine are especially prevalent amongst the elderly. Often older patients must take multiple medicines each day and the time tables for different prescriptions may vary. Many older people overmedicate themselves because of confusion arising from having varying schedules for different medicines.
It is well known in the art to incorporate a time indicator device on medicine caps to avoid some of the previously described problems. Some of these prior art designs recognize the desirability of keeping manufacturing costs low due to the often disposable quality of such containers and caps. Some prior art medicine caps have time indicating numbers marked or imprinted in a circumferential manner along the upper edge of the cap, with one or two hands positioned to point to the numeral or numerals representing the hour at which the next medication is to be taken. Some inventors of prior art devices have recognized that such arrows or hands are subject to accidental rotation away from the correct hour and have attempted to avoid this problem by utilizing friction to discourage involuntary rotation.
However, the time setting mechanisms of prior art devices are not readily usable by elderly persons who may have trouble manipulating small devices with often arthritic hands. Motor control is also problematical for persons disabled through stroke or other paralysis of the upper limbs. In addition, prior art devices employing printing to indicate time can be difficult for the visually impaired to read.